Glow Scotland

July 28th, 2011

Using a wiki as an evidence store for pupil e-portfolios

rsibbett

Comments: Comments Off Tags:  : Categories Glow, Mathematics, North Lanarkshire

Maureen Atkins is a Maths teacher at St Aidan’s High School in North Lanarkshire. She has been making good use of Glow in her teaching. She was involved in the school’s decision to move ahead with using e-portfolios with the S1 year group. Maureen was keen that evidence of pupil achievement that she had captured in the classroom would be available to be used by the pupils when creating posts in their e-portfolios. This Cookbook will focus on the Maths Store Glow Group and on the wiki. You will see a tour of the Glow Group and wiki and also interviews with Maureen where she will explain what she was setting out to do.
This process could be used across any whole school seeking a method to give pupils access to evidence from classes for use in their e-portfolios.

Find out more by reading the Glow Cookbook

July 27th, 2011

St Aidan’s High School Transition – Interactive School Map

rsibbett

Comments: Comments Off Tags:  : Categories Glow, North Lanarkshire, Pupils

Margaret Hamilton is PT Raising Achievement at St Aidan’s High School in North Lanarkshire. As part of the many things Margaret was using Glow for she wanted to work on a Transition Glow Group, which she  started just before the end of term. Margaret had been impressed by what she saw in the Glow Cookbook, Transition Glow Group in Angus Schools, particularly by the involvement of the S1 pupils and also with their interactive map.

Some of St Aidan’s High School’s associate primary schools are as much as 12 miles away and Margaret was attracted by the idea of being able to use tools such as Discussion Boards and Glow Meet to keep in contact without having to wait for physical visits.

Find out more by looking at the Glow Cookbook

July 26th, 2011

Sharing Instrumental Performance Videos at St Aidan’s High School

rsibbett

Comments: Comments Off Tags:  : Categories Expressive Arts, Glow, North Lanarkshire

Alan Jenkins is a music teacher at St Aidan’s High School in North Lanarkshire. After receiving a small amount of Glow training in school Alan could see that he wanted to make use of it. He wanted to use Glow to share instrumental performance videos with his pupils. Alan felt that pupils will have pieces of music demonstrated to them in school but then this moment is gone and it is difficult for the pupils to remember what to do. He feels this is an issue that Glow provides a solution for.

The Guitar Course

 The intention was to let all pupils hear how a piece of music should sound but also to be able to follow along with hand positions and fingering and be able to replicate this themselves at home. This is available in guitar, keyboard and drum-kit. The original films have been captured straight-on but Alan plans to film from different angles to get better views of hand position and fingering. 

Find out more by going to the Glow Cookbook

June 19th, 2011

Glow Light Image 20.6.2011

Lesley Dickson

Comments: 2 Comments » Tags:  : Categories Glow Light Images, North Lanarkshire

Each week, as a reward for good behaviour, pupils at Greengairs Primary, North Lanarkshire, are offered opportunities to participate in a wide variety of activities.  Amongst these is a photography club.   Older pupils support younger children and they enjoy capturing images from around the school environment.  On a typical spring day when sunshine followed a shower of rain the children went outdoors to practice their skills in the school grounds.  Nicholas S, P3, noticed that raindrops were lying on the leaves of plant and used the zoom facility on his camera to get this close-up shot.  He was delighted with the photograph when he downloaded it.  With the encouragement of his teacher he decided to enter it into the competition organised for North Lanarkshire pupils to submit images for the Glow Light screen. 

Image:  Nicholas S., P3 Greengairs Primary School/Text: Donna Scott, Greengairs Primary School

June 12th, 2011

Glow Light Image 13.6.2011

Lesley Dickson

Comments: 1 Comment Tags:  : Categories Glow Light Images, North Lanarkshire

 Dressing Table

This week’s image is one of the winners in a competition held by North Lanarkshire Council to select their images for Glow Light. It was created by Louise Mc C. from Braidhurst High School.

This type of picture is known as a ‘still life’. A still life is a work of art depicting mostly inanimate subject matter, typically commonplace objects which may be either natural, food, flowers, plants, rocks, or shells, or man-made, drinking glasses, books, vases, jewelry, coins, pipes, and so on. With origins in the Middle Ages and Ancient Greek/Roman art, still life paintings give the artist more leeway in the arrangement of design elements within a composition than do paintings of other types of subjects such as landscape or portraiture. Still life paintings, particularly before 1700, often contained religious and allegorical symbolism relating to the objects depicted. Some modern still life breaks the two-dimensional barrier and employs three-dimensional mixed media, and uses found objects, photography, computer graphics, as well as video and sound.

In the last three decades of the 20th century, and in the early years of the 21st century still life has expanded beyond the boundary of a frame. Especially in the wake of the computer age, and the rise of Computer art and Digital art the nature and definition of still life has changed. Some mixed media still life work employing found objects, photography, video, and sound, and even spilling out from ceiling to floor, and filling an entire room in a gallery. Computer-generated graphics have expanded the techniques available to still life artists. With the use of the video camera, still life artists can even incorporate the viewer into their work.

Do you think this picture was drawn by hand or was computer generated? It is so beautifully drawn it is hard to tell!

 Image: Louise McC., S5 Braidhurst High School/Text: Wikipedia

June 5th, 2011

Glow Light Image 6.6.2011

Lesley Dickson

Comments: Comments Off Tags:  : Categories Glow Light Images, North Lanarkshire

The Clyde Arc, Glasgow

This week’s image has ben supplied by North Lanarkshire Council.

It ws taken by Danielle A., S6 Braidhurst High School

The Clyde Arc (known locally as the Squinty Bridge), is a road bridge spanning the River Clyde in Glasgow, in west central Scotland, connecting Finnieston, near the Clyde Auditorium and SECC with Pacific Quay and Glasgow Science Centre in Govan. A prominent feature of the bridge is its innovative curved design and the way that it crosses the river at an angle. The Arc is the first city centre traffic crossing over the river built since the Kingston Bridge was opened to traffic in 1969.

The bridge was named the “Clyde Arc” upon its official opening on 18 September 2006. It has been previously known as the “Finnieston Bridge” or the “Squinty Bridge”.

 Image: Danielle A., S6 Braidhurst High School/Text: Wikipedia

November 19th, 2010

STATE OF EMERGENCY – Day Five

Julia Fenby

Comments: Comments Off Tags:  : Categories Argyll and Bute, Co-Create, Curriculum for Excellence, East Ayrshire, Expressive Arts, Glasgow City, Glow, Glow Meet, Health and Wellbeing, Inverclyde, Literacy, Mathematics, Moving Image Education, National Groups, North Lanarkshire, Outdoor Learning, Religious and Moral Education, Sciences, Social Studies, South Lanarkshire, Technologies, West Lothian, modern languages

On the final day of State of Emergency, S2 year groups from all seven schools came together via Glow Meet to share their learning experiences from this intensive week of activity.

Tarbert Academy journalists gave a live report on the conflict as news broke in the west of Scotland. Their broadcast was interrupted when freedom fighters broke into the newsroom in protest against the government regime.

A Bathgate Academy human rights campaigner gave a powerful speech about the importance of integrity and trust.

During the week, Lochend Secondary pupils had explored war poetry in English and code breaking in Maths. In Drama they’d made a film about a boy who wanted to join the army and in PE they’d learned what it might feel like to be in the army as they were made to run outside in the cold!

Clyde Valley High had a visit from the Red Cross and found out about refugee camps; they created Facebook pages and video messages for viral communications; they made images of war by acting out and photographing scenes involving rebels, civilians and government soldiers.

The Army marched into Cumnock Academy hall and set up an assault course – the highlight of the week for the reporters:

“It was amazing, great fun – I didn’t come first but I did enjoy it!”

“It helped build my confidence”.

They also had visits from the Red Cross and a Human Rights lawyer and learned that everyone has rights to equality and protection. Pupils had purified water in Science, and designed and built devices to transport black market goods through underground tunnels in Technology and Art.

At Greenock Academy aid workers had training in basic first aid and learned to cook nutritious meals with limited supplies. The army launched a search for a missing soldier and through constructing a refugee camp, they learned team work, how to filter water, make up ration packs and distribute food to refugees.

Holy Cross High reported that propaganda was rife, with posters put up around the school by both factions; normal lines of communications had been destroyed. The Department of PE had transformed soldiers into ‘lean, mean fighting machines’ in Sniper Alley; the Department of Technology investigated ways of disposing of human waste; the Department of Social Studies researched the causes of conflict, whilst the Department of Drama explored the motivations of those involved.

State of Emergency has clearly been an amazing experience for both pupils and staff. I would encourage you to visit the Glow Group to read pupil diaries about their learning, look at more photographs of cross-curricular activities and see the rich variety of resources shared by participating teachers. This really has been Curriculum for Excellence in action.

Co-Create is funded through a partnership between Learning and Teaching Scotland and the Creative Scotland National Lottery Fund.

Image credit: Kath Morley, Greenock Academy

November 18th, 2010

STATE OF EMERGENCY – Day Four

Julia Fenby

Comments: Comments Off Tags:  : Categories Argyll and Bute, Co-Create, Curriculum for Excellence, East Ayrshire, Expressive Arts, Glasgow City, Glow, Glow Meet, Health and Wellbeing, Homecoming, Inverclyde, Literacy, Mathematics, Moving Image Education, North Lanarkshire, Outdoor Learning, Religious and Moral Education, Sciences, Social Studies, South Lanarkshire, Technologies, West Lothian, modern languages

This project is so rich that it is impossible to fully reflect the depth and breadth of the activities and learning taking place in seven secondary schools across Scotland.

Today I went out to visit Cumnock Academy in East Ayrshire where staff have embraced the project and as well as designing an exciting timetable of activities for S2, have created opportunities for other pupils, such as the higher media studies students who are recording and reporting on the week’s activities, and the S6 pupils who are helping S2 build emergency shelters.

I arrived in time to join pupils in the hall to watch the fourth and final webisode. They were totally engaged and focused as the drama reached its sad and shocking conclusion. The atmosphere was palpable as pupils silently started to take in and make sense of what they’d seen.

The online dramas have provided the stimulus for the week’s activities and have generated deep discussion and raised big questions. Some of the pupils later engaged in a conversation with a group at Tarbert Academy via Glow Meet and had a serious debate about the motives behind different characters’ actions. Would they have stolen food if they were freedom fighters? Did they think being an insurgent would put their family in danger?

Yesterday, a Human Rights Lawyer visited the school as an expert witness. He was surprised by the pupils’ depth of knowledge, their insight into conflict situations and the challenging nature of their questions.

Participants have explored the physical, ethical and political issues and challenges thrown up by conflict and they have seen the relevance and connectivity of learning across the curriculum. The project has provided a stimulus for learning and a platform for creative response.  The impact of State of Emergency looks set to be long lasting.

Co-Create is funded through a partnership between Learning and Teaching Scotland and the Creative Scotland National Lottery Fund.

Image credit: Eoghann MacColl, Cumnock Academy

November 17th, 2010

STATE OF EMERGENCY – Day Three

Julia Fenby

Comments: Comments Off Tags:  : Categories Argyll and Bute, Co-Create, Curriculum for Excellence, East Ayrshire, Expressive Arts, Glasgow City, Glow, Glow Groups, Health and Wellbeing, Inverclyde, Mathematics, Moving Image Education, North Lanarkshire, Outdoor Learning, Religious and Moral Education, Sciences, Social Studies, South Lanarkshire, Technologies, West Lothian, modern languages

“This is an act of peace not war”, the politician announces in a TV news broadcast as government troops are mobilised for Operation Democracy – “the aim, to disable the unelected regime and restore democracy”. The reality for State of Emergency narrator Chloe is chilling – she is able to watch military strikes online whilst her own building shakes.

So began day three of State of Emergency, an intensive week for S2 pupils in seven schools, exploring the dilemmas and complexities of war, supported by Visible Fictions Theatre Company, and using a project Glow Group to share information, ideas and resources.

At Greenock Academy, staff and pupils have been living out a conflict, using role play to explore issues faced by refugees, soldiers, journalists and politicians.

“We don’t belong anywhere and we can’t trust anyone. We don’t want to fight, we just want to go home.” S2 ‘Refugee’ Pupil to Journalists, Greenock Academy

Clyde Valley High mathematics pupils were faced with the challenge of constructing new bridges to transport supplies over the Clyde after a bombing raid had destroyed the existing ones. They also learned how to make and break codes.

With the threat of shortages caused by the conflict, home economics pupils investigated what food supplies would be needed and where to locate them. At Bathgate Academy, the dining staff are involved too  – their State of Emergency lunch time menu includes a ‘No deliveries’ day, with store cupboard ingredients only, and ‘No power or cooking facilities’ day when only cold food will be available.

“Its exciting, really different from normal school” S2 Pupil, Clyde Valley High

“We could have done a whole month on this”. Teacher, Lochend Secondary

Co-Create is funded through a partnership between Learning and Teaching Scotland and the Creative Scotland National Lottery Fund.

Image credit: Julie Austin, Lochend Secondary

November 17th, 2010

STATE OF EMERGENCY – Day Two

Julia Fenby

Comments: Comments Off Tags:  : Categories Argyll and Bute, Co-Create, Curriculum for Excellence, East Ayrshire, Expressive Arts, Glasgow City, Glow, Health and Wellbeing, Inverclyde, Literacy, Mathematics, Moving Image Education, North Lanarkshire, Outdoor Learning, Religious and Moral Education, Sciences, Social Studies, South Lanarkshire, Technologies, West Lothian, modern languages

“The first victim of war is the truth”, The journalist’s view – Greenock Academy

Day two of the project and the second State of Emergency webisode starts to bring home some of the realities and complexities of war. What would it be like to live in a war zone?

Pupils and teachers have been engaged in challenging and thought provoking discussions…….What are the differences between needs and wants? Which version of a story is the truth? What is it like to live in a refugee camp? Who is right – the government or the freedom fighter?

Each school involved in the project is using conflict as the focus for learning and teaching, exploring war from both subject specific and interdisciplinary perspectives. Pupils at Tarbert Academy have created their own images of what war might look like for them; Clyde Valley High have been discussing war art and the deeper meanings hidden within it. At Bathgate Academy, pupils are working in groups to write their own blogs or online diaries about their learning experiences. At Greenock Academy, the resource centre has been converted into a field hospital and physical borderlines have been created in the school.

One thing is certain– this week is providing many participants with a completely new experience and way of working that is all engaging.

“Day one is over. Two webisodes down and not a technology disaster in sight! Now I know why we say “lines of communication”, how fast soup can be cooked (or not). The young people are engrossed in the fight for freedom. Can’t wait for Sniper Alley tomorrow….” Teacher, Holy Cross High

Male pupil: Miss, see in maths- are we gonnae dae that State of Emergency thing tae? Maths teacher: Yes we are Male pupil: Yabby dabby dabby do! Conversation, Lochend Secondary

For an overview of the project read the recent TES article and visit the State of Emergency Glow Group.

Co-Create is funded through a partnership between Learning and Teaching Scotland and the Creative Scotland National Lottery Fund.

Image credit: Pupil, Tarbert Academy